A week or two ago, I set up a meeting with my friend Helen who lives in Rome and who’s very pregnant. Her due date is my birthday! We’ll see how that works out. We decided to meet halfway, in Florence, to do something new and also so we could spend the day together. Also, it’s really nice to be in a city we both know already without either of us having to act the host or tour guide.

We did the usual indulging expat things – hit up a few international food stores, where I guiltily purchased a small bag of Hot Tamales. I can’t seem to get enough of cinnamon and hot pepper lately!

We also made quite a long stopover at Paperback Exchange – an English book store in Florence that sells used English books and will actually buy them from you as well! I stuffed a few extra books in my bag at home with the intention of lending them to Helen or selling them. We spent quite a lot of time in there, and it was true – when you have too much selection, you end up getting overwhelmed. I managed to escape with two new books – The Long Tail and The Tipping Point. I didn’t mind paying 13+ euro for each being as they are business-related books and hopefully I’ll “learn something” and they’ll become reference books.

After my friend and I had had a nice lunch (for another post) and exhausted ourselves looking at books, we really needed an ice cream. You know, in that my-body-is-lacking-calcium-and-chocolate kind of way. Melinda suggested we go to Grom, one of her afore-mentioned favorites and one I’d already earmarked to see. (It’s also close to Paperback Exchange!)

Grom has a slogan – “Il Gelato Come Una Volta” which I would artistically translate to “Ice Cream as it Used to Be.” There are a lot of things I liked about Grom, and I was sad to really only have one opportunity to taste it. Next time, I’ll be sure to go on an empty stomach and fortified with some “researcher’s justification” so I can then eat my way through all of their flavors. Luckily, I noted that there are two Milan locations as well as others around Italy, so I’ll be checking those out in the near future. Any takers for a meet-up, or Tour di Gelato?

Back to this place. One thing I really liked was that we saw everything….You could see clear into their back area where the ice cream machines were. Helen and I passed by while the chocolate ice cream was coming out in big, creamy waves and we stopped to stare. And drool. They want you to see they have nothing to hide and they are making it all there.

I took a picture of the flavor list, but now it looks like I didn’t have to bother! They post their monthly flavor list on the internet and it looks like it’s standard among all their stores. This is a relief! Whew. Now I don’t have to go all over Italy making sure I’m not missing out on a special flavor in one of their stores.

This picture got a little too close since I was trying to keep it from dripping on me while I was taking the picture, but I want you to really notice the colors of the two flavors. The closest one to you is Pistacchio, one of my favorites since I moved to Italy. Notice that it’s not green! This is a very good sign and means that it is very natural.

The other flavor is Cioccolato Fondente, Dark Chocolate. I’m a bit of a late-comer to dark chocolate but I am really starting to become a huge fan. The flavor was very strong and it complimented the pistacchio. Though I might also pair it with Nocciola, hazelnut, next time.

thanks for the reminder about talk like a pirate day! (we over at allora aspetta are big pirate fans :)) the gelato looks wonderful! i’d love to go back to florence someday soon and eat gelato and do expat shopping too.

Great point about the non-greenness of pistachio. I got that from my Italian significant other when I wanted to find cheddar cheese (no luck thus far) and he claimed that if a cheese is orange, it certainly cannot be natural. Well, I like it all the same.
How about cioccolato piccante (dark chocolate/hot chili) gelato? Sounds weird, I know, but it is my favorite since moving here.

My favorite is cioccolate con panna…just the chocolate ice cream on a cone with the whipped cream on top..amazing how many I used to eat, yet no weight gain. Went to Italy a few summers ago for 2 months and ate like a hog..again no weight gain. The food there is natural and good for you. Also, you don’t see too many people munching on doritos. They waste their calories on healthy good food.

I had Grom the first time last week ( I had pistacchio and strawberry, my husband had crema di una volta and dark chocolate). The pistacchio was quite good, as was dark chocolate, but I was not really moved in general. I would say it’s good gelato in my book, but not earth-moving. I used to be a diehard Vivoli supporter, but I have to agree with a friend who said he thinks they’ve gone downhill in the last couple years. My new favorite is Badiani:
Gelateria Pasticceria Caffetteria Badiani, Viale dei Mille 20/R 50131 Firenze. It’s near the soccer stadium, so it’s off the typical tourist trek, but so, so worth the bus ride in my opinion. They invented Buontalenti, a version of crema that has something special in it that makes it amazing, but all their gelato flavors are stupendous. Perche’ No? is between the Duomo and Piazza della Signoria and is also quite good, last time I went:
Via dei Tavolini 19/r
Firenze
Fi
Italy
50122

Hi! I’ve been to grom in bologna several times and have to say that I myself am disappointed with Grom. I never had a flavor there that was amazing –it’s ok. Instead I prefer Gelaturo (Claimed by some visitors as the best gelato in all of italy!) Via San Vitale in Bologna. Ill have to get you the exact address number, but they have the most incredible flavors like Cannoli siciliano with pieces of candied fruit and cannoli shell or SEmi di finocchio which I have to say is my favorite gelato flavor in all of italy. IT has fennel seeds and taste like Pizzeli. He uses all natural ingredients and Latte biologica! The best there is!

Hi everyone, all I can say is as far as gelato is concerned its very personal. I have been coming here since the 80’s and Vivolis has been regarded as one of the best, except that you don’t get very much and I like a good amount without paying a fortune. Two of my favorites in Firenze are Festival of Gelato and the one that I think is even better is right at the bottom of the Ponte Vechhio before you cross over and it is called something withVecchie Carozze in Italiano something with old cars or old trains, Sorry we just arrived last night after three years so the exact name I forgot but it is so easy to find, and apparently many tourists had found that place because along with many many Italians, there was also a large crowd of Americans, and we like our gelato creamy, natural with lots of flavor and that is what you will get. Its definitely worth finding, its been there a really really long time, at least 20-30 years

I’m italian and i live in Florence.. Grom is a godd gelateria, but the best is Vivoli… There is a new one that’s good… The name is CARAPINA, it’s in Piazza Oberdan… Their best ” gusto ” is CREMALIMONE… it’s fantastic… TRY IT!!! ( my english isn’t very good!!! )

Just got back from Firenze, where we ate gelato at Grom’s. Who would have thought green apple, with fresh apple pulp could make you want to travel back JUST for that–or the caramel with sea salt crystals. I usually always go for pistaccio and chocolate, but Grom’s tempted me away from that.